AUGUST 16, 2022

A TRIBUTE TO FRANK MARSHAL: Formidable!
By Craig Crockard (B.U.S. Class of 1960)

For B.U.S. students of the late 1950s throughout the 1960s, Mr. Marshall’s love of literature, especially Shakespeare, and his zeal for great writing transmuted teenage apathy into a fiery quest for learning.  I recall how the power of his intellect pervaded the room, and this student sat there over 50 years ago in awe.   Formidable knowledge yoked together with formidable presentation was Frank Marshall’s classroom style.  He radiated an ardor that lasted a lifetime for his students. He even salted in a morsel of humor from time to time. I recall when studying the Marshes of Glenn, a sensuous Southern poem by Sydney Lanier.  Marshall recounted to us one student who when reciting the poem misquoted a line which should have been “virginal sky lights, privacies of lone desire” as “privies of lone desire”.

Sometimes in a young person’s life there is a turning point, a sea change in attitude and aspiration. This is usually precipitated by the influence of a teacher. In my case, this teacher was Mr. Marshall, English instructor at the Birmingham University School. Even so, my initial burst of reading concentrated not in English literature but on the classic Russian novels of Dostoyevsky, first the famous ones such as The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment, and later morphing into more obscure ones such as The Idiot, The Possessed, and Notes from the Underground. All the while Frank Marshall was encouraging me to branch out into Dickens. While I did eventually read Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist, Dickens remains a gap in my reading repertoire, He also encouraged and insisted upon a deep exposure to poetry, with an emphasis upon Romantic poetry.

As my friends and family will attest, it only takes a glass of wine or two to trigger the recitation of long quotations from Wordsworth or Keats.  The powerful poems of WWI, which I have recited so many times are now forbidden to me. Two of my particular favorites are In Flanders Fields and I have a Rendezvous with Death.  Of course, he also baptized us in a profound submersion into the Shakespeare tragedies, a course of study which prepares students well for the rigors of a collegiate liberal arts program.  I, myself, took the lessons of BUS and Frank Marshall and pursued a Philosophy Major at Washington and Lee University. After W. and L., I went on to graduate study at Emory. I am certain I would not have been so academically brave without Mr. Marshall. 

This kind intellectual awakening is empowering, in the sense that it invokes self-confidence. Without this self-assurance as a foundation of character, the challenges of higher education and its attendant social interactions would be far more daunting. Mr. Marshall’s love of literature and great writing also inspired one of my classmates and close friends, Charles Gaines.  Charles credits him to this day with giving him the encouragement and confidence to become a professional writer. Charles’s initial enthusiasm was for writing poetry, and I recall that in addition to short poems, he created a long epic poem.  In his formative years, Mr. Marshall was right there with him, helping Charles to establish the techniques of writing that he would later perfect at the University of Iowa graduate writing school.  He went on to write novels including Stay Hungry, Dangler, and an autobiographical tale, A Family Place. One of my personal favorites is Survival Games. He has also written innumerable books on bodybuilding and fishing. 

Frank Marshall, you were truly formidable! We shall always be in your debt!

This centennial celebration is a great time for B.U.S. alumni share your stories with us at Altamont. We would love to include them in our memory archives. Your memories and experiences are what makes the legacy of B.U.S. so special.